Improvement in machinery for breaking hemp and flax



2 Sheets Sheet 1. SANFORD & MALLORY.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. SANFORD & MALLORY.

Hemp and Flax Brake. No. 38.340. Patented April 28, 1863.

lUNITED STATE TPATENT Orrrcn.

GELSTON SANFORD AND JAMES E. MALLORY, OF NEXVYORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINERY FOR BREAKING HEM P AND FLAX.

specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,340, dated April 2-3, 1-JU3.

To all whom, it. may concern:

Be it known that we, GE sToN SANFORD, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, temthe State of NewYork, and JAMES E. MAL- LORY, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Im-' scription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of the machine; Fig. 2, a

side elevation; Fig. 8, a front elevation; and Fig. 4, a vertical crosssection.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

It hasbeen ascertained that the most eflicient method of breaking and cleaning flax, hemp, and other like plants to separate the woody and other foreign substances from the fibers is by means of fluted rollers having a reciprocating rotary motion to act upon the fibrous substances alternately in opposite directions, the motion forward from the feedingin or front side having a greater range than in the reversed direction, to draw in thefibrous substance and cause it to travel through between the rollers; but, as it is important,with reference to economy, that these motions should be worked at a high velocity, it has been found in practice that the mechanisms heretofore employed to impart the required motions to the rollers were not adapted to the purpose, so that if operated at a velocity approximate to the demands of economy they would soon destroy themselves by the violence of the concussions. 1

The object of our said invention is to impart to the rollers the required reciprocating motions, above indicated, at high Velocities, and by a mode of operation which will admit of high velocities without serious injury to the mechanism; and to this end our said invention consists in imparting to the rollers a reciprocating rotary motion for the breaking action, by means of a crank vibrating an arm in combination with'an additional rotary motion, not reciprocating, imparted by means of a pinion or its equivalent on the crank-pin,

porarily residing in the city of New York, in

so that the said additional rotary motion shall cause the rollers to have a greater rangein one direction than in the opposite. I

In the accompanying drawings, a represents a suitable frame, and b a feeding-table, on which the flax, hemp, or other material to be treated is placed to be presented to the breaking action of the fluted rollers. There are two pairs of fluted rollers, c c and (Z d, the bottom rollers, c d, having theirjournals mounted in fixed boxes, and the top rollers, c d, in movable boxes 0 e c 0, held down by springs f f f f, to cause the upper rollers to make pressure on the bottom rollers. It is preferable to have the flutes of the first pair of rollers c 0, larger than the second pair d d. The bottom rollers, 0 (Z, receive motion from a cogwheel, 9, which engages pinions i i 011 the shafts of the rollers. This cog-wheel gmaybe mounted, so as to turn either on a shaft, h, or on astud projecting from the side of the frame, and on the same shaft or stud is also mounted an arm, j, capable of turning thereon independently of the cog-wheel g. The lower end of this arm j is formed with a suitable box, in

which is mounted a short shaft, 70, that carries on its inner end a pinion, Z, the cogs of which engage and communicate motion to the cogwheel 9, and on its outer end it carries a cogwheel, on, which receives motion from a pinion, a, on, and secured to the outer end of a crank-pin, 0, on the driving-shaft p. The crank-pin o islinked to the shaft 70 of the cogwheel m by a connecting-link, q, whereby the pinion n and cog-wheel m are held in gear during the rotation of the crank, that the pinion a may impart a continuous rotary motion to the cog-wheel m, while the rotation of the crank, by the connecting-link q, imparts a vibratory motion to the arm j, which carries the short shaft k, with its cog-wheel mand pinion Z.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the cog-wheel g, from which the fluted rollers receive motion, receives a vibrating or reciprocating motion on its axis from the crank-pin 0 by means of the connecting-link g, which causes the arm j to vibrate, the said arm being held or tied to the periphery ofthe wheel 9 by the pinion Z, which pinion can only turn with the cog-wheel m on its shaft,which wheel on is controlled in its rotation by the pinion a on the crank-pin. This reciprocating rotary motion of the wheel 9 thus imparted communicates to the twobottom rollers a corresponding reciprocating rotary motion of equal range in both directions; but as the pinion n,which drives the cog-wheel m, is fixed on the crankpin 0, a rotary motion is thereby imparted to the wheel m, and by it, through the pinion Z, cog-wheel g, and pinions i e to the fluted rollers; and as this rotary motion, thus imparted by the pinion on the crank-pin, is all in one direction, and comes nearly to a state of rest when the crank-pin reaches its dead-point on the side opposite to the axis of the wheel, it follows that the reciprocating motion of the rollers is greater in the direction from the feeding-table I) than in the reverse direction.

By the mode of operation above described the required reciprocating motion is given to the rollers to break the flax, hemp, or other fibrous substance by a back and forward ac tion so essential to the proper separation of the woody or other foreign matter from the fibers, while at the same time a feeding action is impartedto draw in the fibers and cause them to travel through between the rollers, and be delivered after the breaking; action has been completed; and it will also be seen that, what is essential in an economical point of view, these motions are imparted so as to avoid violent jars or concussions when operated at a high velocity.

It will be obvious that instead of cog-wheels .be directly on the shaft of one of a pair of rollers, and this, if desired, may communicate the desired motion to other pairs of rollers.

WVhat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In mechanism for operating rollers forbreaking or cleaning flax, hemp, or other like fibrous substances, imparting to such rollers a reciprocating rotary motion by means-of a crank connected with an arm vibrated thereby, substantially as described, in combination with an additional rotary motion operating in one direction only, and imparted by a pinion or the equivalent thereof on the crank-pin, and communicated by cog-gearing to the rollers, the axis of the intermediate gearing being connected with the vibrating arm, which transmits the reciprocating motion to the rollers, substantially as and for the purpose spcci' fied.

' GELSTON SANFORD.

JAS. E. MALLORY. \Vitnesses:

WM. H. BIsI-Ior, A. DE LACY. 

